About Our Club

Friendship Force of Western North Carolina (FFWNC) was founded in 1979. Governor Jim Hunt was asked by the Jimmy & Rosalyn Carter to organize Friendship Force in North Carolina. Marie Colton, a state legislator from Asheville at the time, was our club’s first leader.

Since our club’s founding, more than 3,000 people in Western North Carolina have participated in journeys either as hosts for foreign guests or as citizen ambassadors overseas experiencing cultures and countries across Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and Australia, New Zealand, as well as Central and South America.